Christmas Cooking … For Your Pet!

We all want to spoil our pets at Christmas. After all, it’s the season for giving. Have you been pondering what cat or dog Christmas dinner recipes you could cook as you dream about the festive feast that lays in store?

Dogs and cats can’t eat everything that we do (turkey bones hazards! chocolate dangers!), so some creativity will need to be used. Here are some fun ideas for you to try.

Cat or dog Christmas dinner hazards

Before we go into what you could cook, let’s remind ourselves what foods are an absolute no-no for pets.

Dogs can’t have:

• Onions, garlic and chives
• Chocolate
• Macadamia nuts
• Corn on the cob
• Avocado
• Artificial sweetener (Xylitol)
• Alcohol
• Cooked bones

Cats can’t have:

• Onions and garlic
• Raw eggs
• Raw meat and bones
• Chocolate and caffeinated drinks
• Alcohol
• Raw dough
• Milk and dairy products
• Grapes and raisins
• Dog food

Cat or dog Christmas dinner recipes

So, what Christmas-y type foods can your fur friends eat this festive season?

Turkey and chicken

Yes and no. Turkey and chicken bones pose a huge choking hazard, or can cause a blockage or worse if ingested (read about dog choking prevention here). However, small pieces of boneless meat in moderation is a wonderful treat.

Cranberry sauce

As long as it’s not sweetened with an artificial sweetener, cranberry sauce is safe for both dogs and cats. BUT, unless your fur friend has a particularly unique palette, we’re not sure they’ll like it very much. Most dogs and cats turn their noses up at fruit. Please let us know on our Facebook page if your pet is any different, we’d love to hear about it.

Potatoes

What’s a cat or dog Christmas dinner without some lovely baked, boiled or roasted potatoes? Potatoes in moderation are fine for pets too eat. Just remember that they’re very starchy and might take a while to digest, so don’t give them too much.

Dog recipes

Kristina’s Christmas Dinner

We just love this Christmas dinner recipe for pups shared on Express.co.uk. Created by a dog dietary consultant, this recipe is packed full of nutrients and protein – making it healthy, too!

Simply mix the below ingredients in a bowl, and viola…

Ingredients

• 100g turkey, roasted skinless
• 40g canned salmon, drained
• 350g potatoes, boiled or plain mash
• 50g brussel sprouts, boiled
• 50g carrot, raw or boiled
• 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
• 6 tablespoons giblet stock

Hallmark’s Dog Christmas Dinner

The below recipe from the Hallmark Channel is listed as a Thanksgiving recipe, but will work just as well for Christmas. We’ve adjusted it slightly to remove some of the herbs and spices, as this can affect your dog’s digestion. It requires more prep and cooking than the first one – so allow some time for cooking!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice
• 1 small sweet potato
• Coconut oil
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 cup green beans
• (Optional) 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

Directions

Cook quinoa or brown rice, using one tablespoon of coconut oil and water.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Using a food processor, puree the spinach, zucchini and green beans with 1/2 cup of water until you get a nutritious green veggie mush. Set aside.

Using a large bowl, add the ground turkey along with 1 cup of cooked quinoa.

Crack an egg into bowl, and pour in your green veggie mash.

Begin mixing with a wooden spoon; use your hands to evenly combine all ingredients. This dog Christmas dinner is coming along nicely!

Cut a small sweet potato into cubes, and add to mixture.

Add 1/2 cup fresh washed cranberries, either into the mixture, or save for decoration on top.

Once mixture is combined, use coconut oil to coat a loaf pan, muffin tins, a bone shaped pan or whatever you’d like to use.

Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes, checking the inside to make sure it is cooked through.

Cool at room temperature for approx. 1 hour, then promptly refrigerate, freeze, or serve.

Cat Christmas dinner

So, we’ve got dog Christmas dinner recipe ideas covered. What about your kitter? What Christmas dinner delights could you rustle up for him or her? Vivapets have some great recipes to look at; we loved this one for tuna and catnip cookies. Imagine the cute shapes you could cut them in!

Crunchy Tuna and Dried Catnip Cookies

Ingredients

• Drained tuna – 140 grams
• Egg – 1
• Oat flour – 125 grams
• Dried catnip – 1 tablespoon
• Extra virgin olive oil – 1 tablespoon

Preparation

Put all the ingredients in the mixer or in a bowl.

Blend all of them, or in alternative, just the tuna, adding that then little by little the flour.

Mix to obtain a homogeneous mixture, to be spread with a rolling pin.

Cut out the biscuits and bake at 180°C for 10-12 minutes.

Keep them up to a week in a vacuum container, for storing in the refrigerator.

Pet insurance – the purrfect Christmas gift

Bought your pooch or purry a gift yet? We’ve got some ideas for gifts for dogs and cats this Christmas. Besides these and our awesome dog and cat Christmas dinner recipes, another way to keep your furkid happy and healthy is a pet insurance plan.

Then if they eat an errant grape that rolls off the table and need vet treatment immediately, we help pay the bills. Because the last thing you want is to spend Christmas worrying about vet bills instead of your pet.